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The Alan Parsons Project / The Complete Albums Collection box set

By Paul Sinclair

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41

Complete_album

Sony are to release a new Alan Parsons Project box set in March 2014.

The Complete Albums Collection features all ten official studio albums and also includes a The Alan Parsons Project’s fifth album called The Sicilian Defence which is previously unreleased.The 11-disc set comes with a booklet with brand new liner notes and the CDs are packaged in mini-vinyl card sleeves.

The Complete Albums Collection is released on 31 March 2014.

In the set:

  • 1976 – Tales Of Mystery and Imagination: Edgar Allan Poe
  • 1977 – I, Robot
  • 1978 – Pyramid
  • 1979 – Eve
  • 1980 – The Turn of a Friendly Card
  • 1982 – Eye In The Sky
  • 1984 – Ammonia Avenue
  • 1985 – Vulture Culture
  • 1985 – Stereotomy
  • 1987 – Gaudi
  • *Unreleased: The Sicilian Defence

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41 Comments

41 thoughts on “The Alan Parsons Project / The Complete Albums Collection box set”

  1. As reported in previous posts, The Sicilian Defence should not be considered the fifth album of the Alan Parsons Project, but as the 6th!
    Don’t forget that The turn Of A Friendly Card was recorded Late 79-mid 80, and The Sicilian Defence is from early 81 (at the time when the band was in contract renegotiations with Arista).
    Apart from that, i could listen to the album and all i can say is that it’s unnecessary to buy the box set only for this one because it is very poor.
    So keep your old remasters and deluxe editions and pass this one.

  2. I have the last set of reissues with the bonus tracks, and it’s my view that in all the bonus material of each album, it amounts to ONE decent track (On Vulture Culture). The “bonus” material is very poor, imo. Better not to have it.

    1. I completely disagree. The “Naked Eye” medley or the early demo tracks on Pyramid are fascinating to listen to! Plus stuff like “Rumour Goin’ Round” or “Any other Day”… if you like the albums, the bonus tracks are deep insights into the creative process. IMO.

  3. First impression of the box set, just posted on the Steve Hoffman Music Forum:

    “And you are right, it [Sicilian Defense] is really not very good and immediately obvious, why the record company did not release it. It’s just a mix of instrumental “demos”, some on synthesizers with drum computers, some just played on a piano. There are no vocals and no other instruments, it’s very basic. Some synthies sound typical for them, but it’s unfinished business lasting for 39 minutes. It’s maybe interesting for extreme fans who want to have everything, but it has no artistic value. Quote from Parson’s in the booklet: ‘I would not have believed that the album would ever be released. It’s repetitiveness was the subject of some hilarity at the time.’

    The original albums seem to have the same mastering of the 2008 editions – but without the bonus tracks. The thin booklet just gives the line-up on each track of each album plus few liner notes about “the Sicilian Defence”. The album Sleeves have no inner bag and are just miniatures of the Vinyl covers (no inner booklet for Tales…) and they are barely readable with out a magnifier. Could have been a nice set but, they chose the cheap way instead. Probably for the option to do it again in some years time with all the bonus tracks and a real exciting booklet…..”

  4. I didn´t know about “The Sicilian defense”. I have all the APP albums and never heard about it! Does anybody know when was it recorded?
    Could it be bought separately? Thanks….

    1. It was recorded at the same time as “Eve” but it was deliberately un-commercial – the band had a contract that they wanted to get out of and the contract demanded two albums for 1979. The record company said “we can’t release this” and re-negotiated the contract. AP has said he hoped the masters didn’t exist any more. Now he’s releasing them.

  8. You already bought all the AP albums on vinyl? And then again on CD? And then again in 2008 for an (not terrible, but quite average) remastering and bonus tracks? Well, then buy them all for a fourth time, just to get the SD album. With an flimsy 28-page booklet, no new remastering, no bonus tracks, and at that price (currently €82/$112 in Germany) this is a total rip-off! Just take a look at the price of similar box sets from Nilsson, E.L.O., Byrds, etc. (which all do have absolutely great remastering AND plenty of bonus tracks, btw) …

  9. I was so excited to hear that this was being released and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it, even though I already had all the individual remastered CDs. Then I read that none of the albums would include any bonus tracks, although the previous remasters all contained numerous bonus tracks. It doesn’t make sense that they would not include these and will probably be a deal breaker for me on this box set. If record companies are listening, wise up! It costs nothing to include the extra tracks and true fans who are interested in this set will want those. Follow the example of the recent ELO box which included all of the recent bonus tracks, or even better, the recent excellent Harry Nilsson box that included MORE bonus tracks than previous releases and even three extra discs of EVEN MORE bonuses! If the track listing posted on Amazon is true, I am very disappointed in this long awaited box by one of my all-time favorite artists.

  10. This now explains why Sony didn’t release a second original albums collection. I asked someone there for the last years when the missing 4 remaster cds will cd released along with the bonus tracks in these card sleeves.now I know it. What a pity. Will not buy this set. Do have all original versions plus 5 of 9 remaster versions.

  11. Another one here who bought all the remasters when they came out a few years back, and who will be illegally downloading The Sicilian a Defence if it doesn’t get an individual release…

  12. …oh, and TSD is the fifth APP album, 1 to 4 being Tales, I Robot, Pyramid and Eve. TSD was delivered to Arista as a means of renegotiating their contract. Parsons had previously declared it would NEVER be released, even going so far as to say he hoped the masters had been lost or destroyed. I wonder what could have changed his mind? *cough, cough, £££££, cough*

  13. I’m with Kiki – having bought the last set of remasters, I’m disappointed that The Sicilian Defence is not being released separately. I’m certainly not going to fork out for all the albums again to get it.

  14. ‘These sets are very common now. Plain sleeves with NO extra’s at all.
    If you wanna have the bonustracks you have to buy the deluxe titles seperate. Mostly these boxes are at very reasonable prices.
    Some boxes however DO include extra tracks like the new LITTLE FEAT box and in this case a UNRELEASED album.

  16. i live in the US, but always compare prices between amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. the US edition is $146 whilst the UK edition, INCLUDING shipping is 54 pounds, which converts to about $89. don’t let any domestic outlets rape your wallet!

  17. While this box is welcome, and the unreleased album TSD great to finally hear, I can’t help thinking there is a proper big multi disc box set with lots of unreleased stuff that needs to be done. Everyone knows the late Eric Woolfson was really the brains behind the APP operation, and he would certainly have initiated something, but I’m still hoping something wonderful will come out someday.

    1. I’ve been following the Project almost since the beginning and I would be careful about statements of who was the brains or not. Alan and Eric TOGETHER were fantastic. This may be anathema to some, but their solo work after the split was never as good even though I love it.

  19. As we all know A.P. had a little bit to do on Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, with his engineering and high tech knowledge you would think
    he would release these albums in various formats similar to the recent
    Pink Floyd Immersion box sets. I am with you Don, it’s a little disappointing that there are no extras on either album. Out here in Australia each disc has been remastered with 5 extra tracks!!! and they’re
    going very very cheap, can’t get any better than that.

    1. Well, the 2007 remasters all include bonus tracks (the 2013 Legacy Edition of I Robot even more), so this feels like a step backwards, and even more so with “The Sicilian Defense” being exclusive to this set. I’ve got the “Tales of Mystery & Imagination” Deluxe, the “5 Original Albums” (Pyramid, Eve, Turn of a Friendly Card, Stereotomy, Gaudi), and the single-disc versions of “I Robot” and “Eye in the Sky”. So buying this set would result in me having eight (!) albums twice, and I would still be missing the bonus tracks of “Ammonia Avenue” and “Vulture Culture”. No offense to AP, but he should be careful not to reject his loyal fans who keep visiting his concerts.

  20. Looking at the photo, it appears the so called “replica” sleeves, are just mini card slip cases and not recreations of the actual sleeves (gatefolds, artwork, etc) . That would be disappointing and would be the tipping point for me as to my decision to purchase this set. Not to mention, no extra tracks, remastering?

  22. This is very exciting news! I assume that all discs will be the exact same mastering and bonus tracks as the 2007-2008 remasters. Tales and I Robot will likely not be the deluxe editions since both of these were 2 disc sets and this box is described as an 11 disc set. The real treasure here is the inclusion of The Sicilian Defence, which was previously unreleased. It will also be great to have all my APP albums in one neat little box, sitting on my “complete album collections shelf”, right next to my ELO! ;)

  23. Can we hope that “the unreleased” APP album will be released separately ? for people like me, who already bought the previous remastered albums, it’s a bit frustrating… Anyhow, the one “still missing” album is “Freudiana” !

    1. It’s not a bit frustrating, it’s VERY frustrating. Plus: Will the “Tales” be the original 1976 mix or the 1987 remix? It’s not “complete” if it only includes one of the two versions!!

  24. Unreleased APP?! Wow! But when are they going to release the catalog in 5.1, or at least on blu-ray? Of all the artists that are releasing Hi-Def versions of their albums Alan Parsons is the guy who should definitely be doing it!

    1. There have in fact already been stereo hi-res releases of a number of APP titles – I Robot, Turn of a Friendly Card, and Eye in the Sky were all released as DVD-A titles (24/192) a few years ago by Classic Records in the US.

      A word of caution – these are now all out of print and are PRICEY on the second hand market.

  26. Does anyone know if the booklet will include complete lyrics & album credits? I have the original CD pressings of the APP catalog & haven’t “upgraded” to any of the later remasters because the packaging was always lacking. I actually like the sound of those CDs, but if the discs in this box set sound better AND they replicate all original packaging elements, I will definitely pick this up.

    1. Dan, if you click on the “Pre-order From The Alan Parsons Project Shop” link above and scroll down to the comments section, a Sony customer service rep has stated that the albums in this box set will contain no bonus tracks. Hopefully they will and i’m sure Paul will post updates.

      If anyone has the remaster jewel case editions of the individual albums with bonus tracks, I’m curious if the sound is just loud and/or you can hear details listening to these?

  28. Somebody’s not counting their APP albums correctly. :)

    “TSD” was delivered to Arista at the same time as “Eve” according to most online reports (including “The Avenue Online” and Alan’s own website. I’d say it’s the FOURTH record.

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